Roasted Tomato and Burrata Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese is all grown up with creamy, melty and comforting Roasted Tomato and Burrata Grilled Cheese.

Mmmm. . . cheese. I love cheese. If I was going to be left on a deserted island and had to pick my food, it would probably be cheese. I’m pretty sure there’s not one day that goes by without me reaching into the fridge and grabbing a piece of cheese to snack on, working it into a meal in some fashion or making a grilled cheese sandwich.

Oh yes, I don’t care how old you are – a grilled cheese sandwich will always be the perfect meal.

We are talking about two buttered pieces of bread with ooey, gooey melted cheese sandwiched in between them. What is wrong with scenario? In my house, not a week goes by that grilled cheese is cooked up for an easy lunch or, let’s face it a really lazy dinner.

Grilled cheese is so awesome they even get their own month of celebration!

In most cases, my weekly grilled cheeses are pretty boring. I just toss together whatever odds and ends of cheese happen to be floating around my fridge.

However for grilled cheese month I figured I needed to step up my game and what is better than the king of all cheese (in my opinion) burrata?

Have you had burrata? It’s mozzarella kicked up times 10! No, scratch that, burrata turned it up one more to 11.

At first with burrata you think you have a ball of fresh mozzarella, which you do in a way, except the center is filled with string curd and cheese. The flavor is more milky, buttery and rich but not too much that you don’t feel like you’ve over indulged after having way too much.

Now when you have burrata, there should be tomatoes but we are far from tomato season. The best thing to do with out of season tomatoes is to roast them! All the sugars in the tomato caramelize and that pure tomato flavor is condensed for a nice little punch in every bite.

This grilled cheese may not be the one you make for your simple, quick weekday lunches but it’s absolutely one that’s perfect to perk up dinner when you say grilled cheese is on the menu!

Heat the oven to 425 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove the tomatoes from the vine, core and cut in half. Place cut side down on the parchment paper, season generously with salt and pepper and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the tomatoes.

Using a sharp knife, cut the top part of the garlic off, exposing the cloves and set in a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap around the garlic. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the garlic and wrap up tightly. Place on the baking sheet with the tomatoes.

Roast both the tomatoes and garlic for 30-35 minutes or until the garlic is soft, fragrant and very lightly browned. The tomatoes will have released their juices and be roasted on the tops.

Let the garlic cool for about 10 minutes and then squeeze the garlic to release the roasted cloves.

All the roasting can also be done ahead of time.

To assemble the grilled cheese: Butter each piece of bread, flip over and spread roasted garlic on two of the slices.

Divide the tomatoes between the two slices of bread topped with garlic, then top each with a chiffonade of basil and drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of balsamic glaze on each sandwich.

In a large non-stick or cast iron skillet heated over medium-high heat add the bottom piece of bread with all the toppings.

At this point add the burrata and carefully start to break it apart so it covers the bread, then add the top and press down.

Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the bread is toasted to medium brown (you may need to lower the heat and add more butter to the pan if it seems to be over cooking) and very carefully flip over to finish cooking on the other side for another 2-3 minutes.

Depending on the size of your pan, it might be easier to cook the sandwiches separately.

Let cool for about a minute before slicing in half and serving.

Recipe Type: Sandwich, Cheese

Notes

You should be able to find the burrata in 8 ounce containers with 2 balls of burrata in each. Trader Joe's usually carries this packaging.

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2 thoughts on “Roasted Tomato and Burrata Grilled Cheese”

Boy oh boy! I made this for lunch today with homemade burger buns. Gosh! it was awesome. I love burrata cheese. You’re right. It’s many notches higher than regular mozzarella. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Thanks for your comment Cheryl! I love burrata cheese too, it’s pretty much impossible for me to turn it down when I see it somewhere. Glad you enjoyed it and having the grilled cheese on homemade burger buns sounds awesome!